Do White Sox have what it takes to beat Astros in playoff opener?
Here's what we know about the White Sox's upcoming entrance into the American League Division Series.
The Sox (93-69) finished the regular season with the third-best record in the league, so they draw the Astros (95-67) in the opening round.
We know the start times for the first three games of the best-of-five series. The first two are in Houston, which holds home-field advantage over the White Sox.
Game 1 at Minute Maid Park is Thursday and first pitch is 3:07 p.m. on Fox Sports 1. Game 2 is Friday at 1:07 p.m. on MLB Network.
In Game 3, the Sox will take the field at home in the playoffs for the first time since 2008. This one will be under the lights at 7:07 p.m., with Fox Sports 1 doing the broadcast.
Game 4, if necessary, is also at Guaranteed Rate Field on Monday. Game 5 would be back in Houston on Wednesday.
Here's what we don't know: Are the White Sox going to win a playoff round for the first time since 2005?
This shapes up as a very close series, and the Sox have some momentum after closing out the season with six wins in their last seven games.
They also have the experience of making the postseason last year, where they dropped two of three to the Athletics in the Wild Card Series “bubble” in Oakland.
“It's night and day,” White Sox starting pitcher Lucas Giolito said. “Last year, in the shortened season, it was like a sprint. We played really good baseball. We clinched a spot in the postseason. And it was like, ‘Oh, awesome. We achieved what we were looking for.' From there, we kind of lost that edge.
“We learned from that and this year the ultimate goal is winning a ring. We won the division. We celebrated, but at the same time we celebrated where in the back of our mind we knew, ‘OK, we are going to continue to play good baseball and finish this regular season strong and be fully prepared for the playoffs.'
“I feel like that's exactly where we are at right now. I'm very pleased to see that.”
The Sox don't know if Giolito (11-9, 3.53 ERA) or Lance Lynn (11-6, 2.69) is going to start Game 1 at Minute Maid Park, or they are just keeping the decision to themselves until playoff rosters have to be turned in Thursday at 10 a.m.
“I don't think we could go wrong with either Lance or Gio in Game 1,” White Sox general manager Rick Hahn said. “We've had a fair amount of conversation internally about how we are going to line those up, and when the time comes to announce that (manager) Tony (La Russa) will go into the reasoning behind who is 1 and 2. They are interchangeable in terms of capabilities and chance to go into a difficult environment and come away with a W.”
The Sox pushed the Astros until the final weekend for home-field advantage and fell just short.
That could be a determining factor considering the White Sox had the best home record (53-28) in the AL and were 40-41 on the road.
No matter, the Sox seem much better equipped to make a deeper run this October.
“There was this confidence going back to spring training, but there was no love of complacency by any stretch,” Hahn said. “People understood that we hadn't done anything yet and quite frankly, we've only accomplished the first thing on our list of goals and that is to win the division. If we don't wind up winning 11 more games this month, we will have not have accomplished everything we felt this team is capable of doing.
“Obviously, we need to be blessed with some good luck and some good health along the way. But there was this confidence going back to spring training that this team could get itself into this position today, much less the one we envision for ourselves over the next month.
“I like the fact that from the start, they knew they still had something to prove. I think that has served us well through the adversity and is going to serve us well over the next several weeks as well.”